The 2008 election was filled with hope and promise.  After eight years of Republican failed policies, the country was looking for a change.  Not just Democrats, but moderate Republicans and Independents realized that the country needed a new direction. 

This wave of change swept Democrats in office all over the country.  People expected reversal of the major Bush policies and a new direction for our

country.  Sadly, the Democrats are blowing this opportunity to change the course.  Instead of rectifying Bush’s policies, they are doing slight tweakings as if incremental change is enough.  Come on Democrats! You are blowing the golden opportunity to correct major excesses of Republican policy. 

A Rocky War.  First and foremost, America wants this war to end.  This week is the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq.  We have been in a county smaller than Texas longer than it took to beat the Germans and Japanese in World War II.  This war has cost tens of thousands of lives, trillions of dollars, and irrefutable damage throughout the world. 

The Democrats are compounding the Republican mistake by increasing troops and money in Afghanistan.  We are putting over 100,000 troops and trillions of dollars in a country smaller than Utah.  It has no strategic value and poses no military threat to us.  We have not learned anything from the Russian invasion of the 80’s and the huge toll that it took on that country.  Yet, the Democrats are still blindly following the failed Republican policies towards disaster. 

Yet, the Democrats fitter and twitter about ending these wars.  The President announced a gradual withdrawal to reduce the troops by about a third.  No mention was made of the 190,000 “contractors” still operating and being paid by our government in Iraq.  Let’s just call them what they truly are: Mercenaries.  The have wrecked more havoc on the host countries and the U.S. reputation that any enemy ever could.

The Democrats have stated that they want to keep permanent bases in Iraq and maintain a permanent troop presence.  Where is the logic behind such thinking?  Thank God that our Congresswoman Barbara Lee and some of her colleagues have formed the End the Iraq War Caucus to relieve our country of this human and financial burden.  It is time for the other Democrats to listen and lead instead of following Bush policies.

Corporate Greed.  While our financial institutions are in trouble, the Democrats are blindly throwing money at them.  Instead of calling for reform and correcting the errors initiated under the Clinton administration, the current Democrats are simply compounding the mistakes by giving our tax dollars to people who caused this very financial meltdown.  Somehow they expect the very villains to reform the excesses.  Business on the backs of Joe and Sally taxpayer.

And what are they doing with it?  The large banks are not making more loans; they are not reforming these toxic mortgages to relieve homeowners of their conditions.  No, they are using the money to prop up their shareholder to pay dividends and their own outrageous compensation.
 It turns out the many Democrats get just as much money from financial institutions as Republican politicians.  They have no incentive to bite the hand that feeds them.  The only change we are getting is simply one hand to the other. 

There are ominous signs that our Democratic majorities are not really interested in substantive change.  This war and financial crisis are too severe for simply cosmetic touch ups.  There has to be a fundamental change in American policy. 

We have to end these 2 disastrous wars.  We have to put in place the government regulation and controls that were removed 10 years ago and regulate the greed and excess of our financial institutions.  The government is going to have to reform Rube-Goldberg mortgages so that the homeowners are not the ones that suffer.

It is time for the government to tell those financial speculators who played with our very homes that they lost and have to suffer the financial brunt of their excesses.  If Democrats continue to prop up the very system that has led us down this ruined path, they can expect that the voters will turn them out as well.  We’ve had enough of Bush policies, and do not need Bush Lite as a replacement.  We were promised change, not touch ups.

So now, we will see if the Democrats have the capability and commitment to bring substantive change to our country.  Come’on Democrats, it is time to step up and produce change, chart a new direction for the country.

Clinton Killian is an attorney in downtown Oakland, an Oakland resident, a former Oakland Planning Commissioner. He can be reached at: (510) 625-8823 or email: clintonkillian@yahoo.com.